FEATURED Final Fantasy XI: The Vana’diel Collection – PC

The complete, award-winning FINAL FANTASY XI online role-playing game plus two expansion packs on one easy-to-install DVD.

Includes FREE 30-day subscription.

Cross-platform – play together with friends on Xbox 360, Windows PC, or PlayStation 2.

“Vana’diel Buddy Pass” included – Invite a friend to play FREE for 30 days.

Cross-country – adventure with friends around the globe.

Begin your journey into the world of Vana’diel by creating a customized character from a host of physical attributes and jobs. Experience missions, quests, and boss battles by yourself or join up with other party members to form powerful alliances as you explore the incredibly vast environments that make up Vana’diel. The inclusion of the Rise of the Zilart, Chains of Promathia, and Treasures of Aht Urhgan expansion packs expand the storyline and allow an even greater variety of jobs, higher-level skills, and abilities.

I first had some apprehension toward playing a MMORPG, but those feelings have since gone. Last summer, I started playing FFXI, and had a blast. I had to quit because of school, and sold the game. I wanted to get back into it, but didn’t want to spend the money again to rebuy the game, and then get the expansion. Fortunately for me, they decided to release this collection! I snatched it up and spent most of my time since playing it.

Now for some game details: The play control, graphics and sound are all top notch. I’m using a P4 that’s about 3+ years old with a Geforce MX 420 card, and I”m still dazzled by the image quality. The game is designed for endless fun. Many people complain that it takes a while to accomplish anythign with the game, but that’s the whole point. The game designers made Final Fantasy XI for those that want a game that really never ends, but still keeps delivering a new and exciting experience over and over again.

Another complaint is the monthly fee… well, sure $13 per month can be a lot if you don’t plan on playing frequently, but if you’re an avid gamer that likes to get sucked into one game, this may eventually save you money since you won’t have the time to do other things!

These are my main jobs, although I have all of the jobs open (w/ the exception of the 3 new jobs due w/ the expansion in the next few days).

I’ve been playing FFXI for 3 years and I’ll share some of the pros and cons I have personally experienced: (Please remember that this game requires one MAJOR thing… TIME, it IS an MMORPG, so Duh! ;p)

Pros:

Great music, story line(s) (via Rise of the Zilart, Chains of Promanthia and soon Treasures expansions). Great zones. Beautiful landscapes and incredible monsters to battle. Each job has it’s own Artifact armor which provides incredible enhancements to the job. Jobs from lvl 52 – 60 allow you to equip that specific jobs Artifact (or job specific) gear. Which looks awesome! Quests for other, rare gear is also available to be taken advantage of by others. Missions, require party’s in many instances, to complete tell incredible stories and provide breathtaking cutscenes. Spells truly come to life on screen… Flare from a Black Mage, Summon Ifrit or Shiva or Fenrir… Cast White Mage magic and watch it come to life on screen… Use a wyvern as a Dragoon and watch it grow in power… the list goes on and on.

Cons… the game isn’t perfect but the biggest beefs most seem to have is getting money (gil) in order to get around in the game. The mechanics to do so have been provided – synthesis. This provides you the ability to craft items and then sell those items to others for gil. (The system is more complex than that, but that’s the basic premise.) Time is another major issue… as u level up in the game, and depending on the type of job you are—you may be seeking for party for a VERY long time. This is primarily because most players tend to rely on a basic formula to create a party which is most effective: A tank, a healer, a refresher, and three direct damage jobs). If ur job doesn’t necessarily fit into any of those catagories, then invites to party would be very slow and as such, players tend to sit around for hours waiting for an invite. Now, some players create their own party’s… these folks don’t mind taking leadership roles in a group and either (a) have one of those jobs that truly don’t necessarily fit well in a conventional party set-up or (b) don’t care either way but just want to party regardless. Since your paying a monthly fee, play the game the way you want to play it… just be mindful that this game was created w/ partying/grouping in mind… in order to get far in the game you must party… u MUST group together.

Granted partying and grouping is practically required, but there are viable alternatives. Some jobs solo better than others… white mages can’t solo very well, even at lvl 75, compared to say… a summoner or paladin. So you have to pick and choose your job carefully, the one you want to grow with.

There is a way to make things easier, which players who post to these reviews and online forums fail to mention; the use of Linkshells.

A linkshell is a network of players who’s sole purpose to get together and help each other out. In FFXI there are thousands of linkshells, always looking for members… these linkshells can vary from goal specific to just general social linkshells. Some are job specific (black mages only) and some are mission specific (Chains of Promanthia linkshell only). But these “tools” help you group with others who are doing the same thing you are generally trying to do. Finding these linkshells, is as simple as “shouting” in the middle of town of your linkshell interest and waiting for a response from someone — believe me, there’s always someone looking for new members for their linkshell.

The Time issue is another more important detail, which many others have touched on… and it is important because if you don’t have TIME to invest in the game… you won’t feel the connection to continue playing.

This game requires a lot of time, dedication and patience. At higher levels, past lvl 60, you’ll need to realistically spend at least 5-6 hours per night or at least 3 – 4 times per week in a specific job in order to progress. Level 75 is the maximum level in the game, but that doesn’t mean your character stops growing. Merit or Limit points can be acquired when a character reaches level 75. These points can be assigned to many different attributes for a job to increase maximum hitpoints, increase maximum magic points, increase Strength stat, vitality stat, etc. So if you want to make your Black Mage cause more damage with his/her spells, and they are level 75, just keep fighting in experience party’s and earning merit/limit points. Then you can assign points to the Black Mages’ INT (intelligence) statistic…this will…

First of all, I just want to point out the fact that you will not find another MMORPG like this. It’s simply the most involving, the most up to date, and the most eventful game you will EVER play! I am going to go through each aspect of the game, simply so you can see how well the game is overall.

First of all, let’s talk about the sound / video. The game’s graphics are very good. They are not top notch, of course, but they are EXCELLENT when compared with the sound and the gameplay. The sound is excellent, I love the music from the game. I loved it SO MUCH that I had to buy the soundtrack. This was a five star rating for me, overall. The graphics are about four stars.

The gameplay is wonderful. I LOVE the game itself because fighting is fun, and it takes time. You have to work with your team and stay on task to win, and that is what is so wonderful about it all! If you wish to stay alive, however, you need to watch where you are. There is a lot of wandering monsters that would LOVE to eat you alive, if you know what I mean… This adds to the thrill of the game. Five stars.

The overall game is wonderful. You will get a lot from this game. It’s tons of fun, and it has a lot to do inside the game. You WILL be fighting a lot, but you will also be questing a lot. You just have to have patience, and the game will grow and become better.